THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
Dir. Judy Erlich and Rick Goldsmith | 2009 | USA | 93 min

One of the most important news stories of the 1970’s involved a bureaucrat named Daniel Ellsberg, who – so torn by his conscience over the state of the Vietnam War – decided to turn over top secret government papers to the New York Times that revealed that the war was a lost cause to begin with. The impact of his actions had a strong influence on public opinion at the time and is credited with helping to lead to a series of events that ended the war. However, Ellsberg was also branded by the FBI, as being “the most dangerous man in America”. This superbly researched film reveals how several generations of U.S. presidents, such as Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F.Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, had deceived the American public about the truth of the Vietnam War. This film introduces the audience to a spellbinding story which eventually fueled the Watergate scandal. Directors Erlich and Goldsmith’s film includes archival footage and interviews with everyone from the retired editor of the New York Times, Max Frankel, to former Nixon aide John Dean.

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